


Wish You Were Here

by Ralkana



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Community: trope_bingo, Established Relationship, Introspection, M/M, One Shot, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-05
Updated: 2013-04-05
Packaged: 2017-12-07 12:35:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/748568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ralkana/pseuds/Ralkana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High school AU oneshot. The Stark-Banner family is on a roadtrip to Vegas, and Clint is passing the time by missing his boyfriend. (This story is all tumblr's fault.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wish You Were Here

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer ~ Marvel's toys, not mine. I'm just playing with them.
> 
> Inspired by [this post on tumblr](http://alykat86.tumblr.com/post/47109873881/ralkana-grumpyslytherin). Mix a cast photo, some tumblr tags, an awesome piece of fanart, and a little headcanon, shake vigorously, and you get this fic. *g*
> 
> This fic fills the "AU: Other" square on my trope bingo card.

 

Clint stared out the window and sighed. It'd only been three days since he'd seen Phil, but it felt like three months. His thing with Phil was still new -- they'd been friends practically since the day he'd come to live with Bruce and Tony and seen the cute boy next door -- but the... _more_ than friends part of it was only a couple of months old, and it was awesome, and he missed it.

Thinking about making out with Phil while he was trapped in a car with everyone wasn't a good idea. He shifted in his seat and scowled out at the passing desert again.

He didn't even know _why_ they were going to Las Vegas over Spring Break -- other than Tony and Bruce, only Steve was old enough to do anything fun, and he was such a goody-two-shoes that he probably wouldn't even go near the bars or the card tables, let alone any of the strip clubs.

Then again, Steve seemed way more excited about this trip than Clint had figured he'd be, so maybe Westpoint was having an effect on him. Maybe the other cadets were tarnishing his halo a little bit. Clint didn't know Steve very well, since he only ever saw him when he was back home on leave from Westpoint, like he was now, but everyone in town seemed to believe that Steve Rogers Stark-Banner could do no wrong.

Clint didn't like to think about Steve at Westpoint -- it reminded him of Phil and the ROTC thing he was at now, and that reminded him that Phil was going to someday be in the army, and _that_ meant he might eventually go where people wanted to shoot at him, and yeah, no. He wasn't thinking about that.

Tony and Bruce were arguing quietly in the front seat over something one of them was researching, something that had way too many syllables for Clint to keep track of, and he watched as Steve watched his dads bicker, a tiny smile on his face. Unlike the rest of the misfit bunch in the back of the car, Steve was actually theirs, since Bruce and Tony had adopted him when he was just a sickly little kid -- Clint wouldn't have believed it, looking at him now, but he'd seen the pictures.

Thor's booming laughter filled the car. Clint didn't have much -- any -- experience with family vacations, but so far, it just seemed... loud. At Tasha's quiet laugh, Clint glanced over to where she was play-fighting with Thor using these giant green monster gloves they'd found God knew where.

It was so good to hear her laugh. She'd been just as quiet and messed-up when she'd come to live with Tony and Bruce a few months ago as he had been when he'd arrived a few years ago. He still didn't know everything about where she'd been before -- and she didn't know everything about his past, thank God -- but he loved her like a sister. No matter what happened after he aged out of the system in a year and a half, he was determined to keep an eye on her.

Not that he thought Tony and Bruce were the kind of foster parents to wave goodbye from the doorway as soon as he hit eighteen, but...

Aging out was another thing he didn't like to think about.

Clint jumped as AC/DC suddenly blasted through the car, and he couldn't quite completely stifle his grin as there was a brief battle over the radio volume -- Bruce with his hand on the radio knob and Tony fighting back with the controls on the steering wheel.

After a moment, the volume settled somewhere between earsplitting and brain-melting, and Bruce, smiling, shook his head at Tony's smug grin of victory.

They were really good guys, who'd given Clint more of a home than he'd ever had before, even with his parents and his brother when he'd been tiny. Not content with providing a loving home for only the adorable blonde angel they'd adopted all those years ago, Bruce and Tony had taken in more than a few foster kids over the years, and now even that apparently wasn't enough, so they'd arranged to host a foreign exchange student for a semester.

That was how Thor Odinson had joined their little bunch. Big and blonde and brawny and _loud_ , Thor was actually a pretty cool guy who told awesome stories. And, well, if he could make Tasha laugh like that, he was all right, Clint guessed.

His phone beeped, and he slid it out of his pocket and grinned. Phil's face on the screen might not have been smiling in the ridiculous plastic Captain America mask Clint had bought and made him wear, but his blue eyes sparkled with humor.

_Having fun?_

_Yeah, 'cause being trapped in the car with these lunatics is my idea of paradise_ , he sent back, knowing Phil would know he was mostly complaining just to complain. _You?_

_It's going okay. Sitwell's scaring the freshmen, as usual. They keep staring at me, and if their eyes get any wider, they might just pop. I think one of them's gonna cry soon._

Clint smiled. _Ooh, is he telling them how you took out three assholes with a comb and your geometry textbook? I love that one._

He could practically hear Phil's sigh. _That one's not true, and you know it._ Barely a second later, that was followed by, _Okay, mostly not true._

_More true than not true, Coulson, come on, admit it, you're a badass. It's pretty hot._

There was a pause and Clint grinned as he thought of how Phil would look right now, a tiny, embarrassed smile on his lips, the tips of his ears and the tops of his cheeks just a little pink, and God, Clint missed him.

 _So what are you going to do in Vegas?_ Phil sent back after a minute, and Clint smirked at the blatant attempt to change the subject.

_Die of boredom._

There was another pause, a couple of minutes this time, and Clint knew -- he _knew_ \-- Phil was googling on his phone. Sure enough...

_There's an atomic testing museum. Or, cool, a mob museum, go there! There's a pinball museum with an arcade, and there's sharks at the Mandalay Bay. You could take Thor and Steve to an all-you-can-eat buffet and watch the staff panic a little._

Clint laughed. _Tasha eats more than both of them combined. That could be fun._

_Oh, there's a Golden Age comics exhibit at the MGM!_

_You are **such** a nerd._

_I thought I was a badass._

_You're both. That's also hot._ And it was. Phil was a secret badass hidden inside a comic book nerd, and watching jerkwad bullies find that out the hard way was _always_ fun.

_I've gotta go. Have fun. I miss you._

Clint smiled even as his heart gave a ridiculous thump. _Miss you too. See you soon._

He wondered if he could bribe Tasha to go look at a bunch of really old comics with him. He had a little cash and there had to be _something_ he could buy there that he could embarrass the hell out of Phil with.

Or, there had to be a pair of purple fuzzy dice _somewhere_ in Vegas, right? Phil's car _definitely_ needed those.

Maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad after all.

**END**


End file.
